B E H O L D T H E D R E A M E R S

|| Behold the Dreamers || Imbolo Mbue || Book Review 5 ⭐️ ||

“The problem is not some system. It is us. Each of us. We've got to fix ourselves before we can fix a whole damn country “

Jende and Neni have moved across to America from Cameroon, working hard to try and get their papers, for the elusive green card and life they have dreamed of. Jende lands a job with Clark Edwards, an executive at Lehman brothers and it seems, that their life is starting to come together. However a downward spiral of events during the 2008 financial collapse, leads to them all questioning, how far they are really willing to go for the American dream?

Mbue manages to interweave cultural dialect and traditions into her writing, with the perspective of both Jende and Neni considered, I really felt this worked well for the reader to truly get a feel of their heritage. The struggles of being an immigrant, combined with racial prejudices creates a hard hitting storyline, one that really hits home of how many sacrifices are truly made, to succeed in gaining a better life for their children. Hope and desperation seem to go hand in hand for the protagonists in this story, forcing us to take a long hard look at how much easier a large proportion of society have it, racial discrimination is very much present in 2020, not much changing since 2008 when the story was set.

A poignant, timely debut!